a special section of the calgary herald · wait in pain or seek timely surgery ... back to health a...

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A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE CALGARY HERALD

THE COPEMANHEALTHCARECENTRE set a new standard for primarycare in Alberta when it opened the doorsof its Calgary Centre in October 2008.The centre was developed to offer each

client a personalized and expert team ofprofessionals focused on all aspects of hisor her health.The state-of-the-art, centrally located

17,000-square-foot facility was expandedin 2011, and a second Alberta locationopened in Edmonton in May 2012.Copeman Healthcare has created a

Western Canadian network of doctors,specialized professionals and researchersto develop and implement some of themost advanced programs of screening,diagnosis, prevention and health manage-ment available in the world today.According to founder and CEO Don

Copeman, the company began with asimple premise — to deliver unparalleledaccess to medical expertise while provid-ing each patient with a highly personal-ized and “unhurried” experience.In addition to expert doctors, the

centres are staffed with a complementaryteam that includes psychologists, psychia-trists, neuro-psychologists, physiothera-pists, registered dietitians, kinesiologists,exercise medicine specialists, nurses,

health coaches and other specialized pro-fessionals who work together for the earlydetection and treatment of disease.The centres offer the only program of

its kind, recognizing that complete well-ness must address all three areas of physi-cal, psychological and brain health.Copeman’s brain health program is the

first of its kind and is focused on earlyintervention for age- and disease-relatedcognitive decline.Copeman Healthcare has become

Canada’s leader in collaborative, team-based health care, but the services andtechnologies it has developed are now be-ing shaped for implementation through-out the world.One of the centre’s greatest contribu-

tions to the field of prevention and healthmanagement is its computerized HealthManagement System, which is a secure,online personal health record combinedwith sophisticated risk assessments, healthsurveillance and self-management tools.Changes in laboratory results, mea-

sures and lifestyle trigger personalizedreminders about important risk factorsand transmit both positive and negativetrends to the patient’s health team. Thisadvanced technology is made available toevery client of the centre.

The centre offers a warm and comfort-ing environment, as well as an atmo-sphere of genuine caring that belies thesize and sophistication of its operations.“We are committed to a large, expert

staff and the most current science andtechnology, but creating a very personal-ized and highly available service is just asimportant to us,” says Copeman.“We have a simple motto, which is

to treat every client like we would haveour own loved ones treated. Our clients’health teams are dedicated to them andcommitted to looking after every aspectof their health.”Although the centre has numerous

subscription programs and services, themost popular offering is LifePlus, an allinclusive prevention and health manage-ment program.This service costs $3,900 per adult in

the first year of service and $3,045 peryear thereafter. It includes a comprehen-sive, four-hour annual health assessmentand a complete package of professionalservices to support a client’s individualhealth plan. Family programs are alsoavailable and the centre offers one of themost advanced programs for the preven-tion of child illnesses available in theworld today.

Calgary’s leader in private family care

– CORPORATE PROFILE –

Copeman Healthcarehas introduced a

highly personalized andservice-focused

approach to personal,family and corporate

health care thatdelivers excellence inprevention and health

management.

Name: Copeman Healthcare Centre

Locations:4th floor, 628 12th Ave. S.W.Calgary, AB, T2R 0H6

10216 124 St., Suite 700Edmonton, AB, T5N 4A3

Contact info:Phone: 403-270-CARE (2273)E-mail: [email protected]: www.copemanhealthcare.com

Services: Advanced personal and family healthcare; 24/7 physician on call; integrated physical,psychological and brain health; exercise medi-cine and physiotherapy; comprehensive healthassessments; corporate wellness; registereddietitians; concussion management services;dementia and Alzheimer’s screening; stroke andbrain injury rehabilitation; integrated personaltraining; cardiac health and rehabilitation; healthcoaching and therapeutic lifestyle change.

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2 Options | Fall 2012

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Options | Fall 2012 3

Contents

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CORPORATE PROFILES

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Copeman Healthcare Centre

Provital Health & Wellness

Canada Diagnostic Centres11

15 Radiology Consultants Associated

Making choicesWait in pain or seek timely surgery – the choice was obvious for a Calgary woman suffering with debilitating knee pain.

Paying the priceLengthy wait times for medical treatments are taking their toll on the Canadian health-care system.

14 Total packageTreating the whole person in body, mind and spirit is the increasing focus of many private health-care facilities.

Investing in healthThe high cost of replacing executives has many companies working to keep their high-priced talent healthy.

Conscientious careImpressed by the thorough care received from her doctor, a Calgary woman follows her physician into private practice.

12 Money mattersThere are many payment options for private medical care. Some may even be covered by existing health plans such as Alberta Health Care.

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Back to healthA Calgary woman, unable to find a good family doctor, finds help and health at a private clinic.

Added insuranceTwo new insurance options are giving Canadians better access to the Mayo Clinic.

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About timeAccessible health care for a Calgary man and his family led him to a private health centre.

In strideA Calgary man is looking forward to his retirement and travelling after hip replacement surgery has given him back his mobility.

FEATURES

By the numbers

is a special publication of the Calgary Herald Publication date: Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012

Special Projects Manager: Barb Livingstone, 403-235-7339 [email protected]

Advertising: Susan Walker, 403-235-8784

Design/cover illustration: Jennifer Worley

YOUR GUIDE TO PRIVATE MEDICINE

ptionsO

9.5 weeks Average wait for patients between seeing a specialist and receiving treatment.

The Fraser Institute

11.8 millionNumber of weeks Canadian patients waited in 2011 for non-emergency procedures.

The Private Cost of Public Queues/2012 report, Fraser Institute

11%of patients experience significant difficulty carrying on their work or daily routines.

The Private Cost of Public Queues/June 2012, Fraser Institute

$3.29 billion Annual work-related costs of delays in receiving treatment, combined with the off-hours value of patients’ reduced capacities.

The Private Cost of Public Queues/June 2012, Fraser Institute

19 weeks Canada-wide wait times for non-emergency medical procedures, an increase of more than 50 per cent since 1996/97.

Fraser Institute

$200.5 billionAnnual federal and provincial spending on health care across Canada in 2011, or $5,800 per person.

Canadian Institute for Health Information

80.8 YEARSAverage Canadian life expectancy is 80.8 years, compared with an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 79.25 years and a U.S. average of 78.7 years.

OECD

4OP4

By COLLEEN BIONDI

Carol Kraychy and her husband have owned an oil and gas company in Calgary for 31 years. She served as a

public member on the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta for 17 years and the self-described political junkie was an alderman for Ward 14 for two terms from 1989 to 1995. She is a proud mother and grandmother and enjoys exploring the desert land of Arizona.

There is nothing much that could bring this active 69-year-old down.

But about five years ago, after feeling progressive and debilitating pain in her left knee, she checked out local options for knee replacement surgery. She was put on a list but couldn’t get information about how long it would take before her turn came.

“I could’ve been dead by the time I got called,” she says.

She researched a facility in Phoenix, got surgery and the worst thing happened.

It didn’t work. The surgeons could not tell

Kraychy what had happened. They couldn’t explain the pain she continued to have or why rehabilitation was not recovering her function. A second opinion in Phoenix suggested she got a knee that was the wrong size for her leg.

She was researching options to redo the knee when she read an article in an earlier issue of this magazine about Northwest Healthcare in Kalispell, Mont. “I started investigating because I knew I had to do something or live with this pain for the rest of my life.”

She called Northwest in the spring, explained she wanted another opinion on her left knee and was invited down for an assessment. But by this time, her right knee was hurting more than the left and it was decided that both needed to be dealt with, but they would replace the right knee first due to advanced osteoarthritis. Surgery was booked for mid-June.

“The experience was phenomenal,” says Kraychy. She and her husband drove to Kalispell a few days prior and, after the two-hour operation, she stayed in hospital for three days. She was up and walking almost

immediately post-op. Although nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often prescribed for pain, they bother Kraychy‘s stomach so she was given a form of Oxycontin and a non-narcotic medication. “You’re not going to be pain free but they are on top of it.”

Staff at the facility are respectful and professional. Patients are involved in every decision and questions are answered fully and without hesitation. “You are number one and you know it at Northwest. I have never seen anything like it in any other hospital and I have had my medical challenges.”

Now back in Calgary, Kraychy works with a rehabilitation professional twice weekly and does daily exercises at home. “There is pain, but it feels different,” says Kraychy. This is pain associated with recovery.

Within three to six months, Kraychy will book surgery back at Northwest for the left knee. This is called a “revision” and is not something Kraychy is taking lightly, but she is determined. She wants her quality of

life back. “I can’t wait to get back driving, Nordic pole walking and keeping up with my family when we go out as a group. I might be almost 70, but I don’t feel that old.”

The assessment and knee replacement at Northwest cost $25,000 US (this excludes meals, gas and hotel). Kraychy and her husband took the money out of a “rainy-day” fund.

“We take our health for granted, but we have a choice not to,” says Kraychy. “The issue really is: how do you want to spend your money?”

Kraychy is choosing to pay for getting well, and she suggests others do the same.

“You deserve to get a second opinion,” she says. “Look at your options before you make a decision.”

‘You are number one and you know it’

PROFILE

I had to do something or live with this pain for the rest of my life.

Calgarian Carol Kraychy’s debilitating knee pain led her to a private medical facility in Montana where she had knee replacement surgery in June. — Wil Andruschak photo


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MOVING TO THE United States topractice medicine was not an option for Dr.Donovan Kreutzer and Dr. Sarit Sengar.Working together for years in a busy

hybrid family practice/walk-in clinic inCalgary, they knew there had to be a betterway to practice the thorough and collab-orative medicine they felt their patientsdeserved. Critical to that idea was the needto be able to spend the time each patienttruly required and to focus on two sharedhealth-care philosophies — practicing bothproactive and preventative medicine.Dr. Kreutzer and Dr. Sengar wanted a

middle ground and they believe they havefound it with the formation of ProvitalHealth and Wellness.The Provital clinic, centrally located in

southwest Calgary, provides what they call“truly collaborative care.” It includes theservices of three physicians, a naturopathicdoctor, a chiropractor, nurses and special-ists such as a dietitian, exercise kinesiologists,psychologists, massage therapists, a pedorthistand pharmacist. It also makes referrals tonumerous allied specialists.“So many health concerns are interre-

lated that it just makes sense to be able toprovide an integrated, collaborative form

of health care,” says Sengar.Each client enjoys 24/7 physician avail-

ability as well as access to Provital’s teamof specialists, including an initial “compre-hensive, head-to-toe health assessment andtailored health plan” involving the full rangeof Provital specialists as a basis for ongo-ing “preventive and proactive health care.”Blood tests are drawn on site and sent tooutside labs for analysis as a means of savingtheir clients time. When referrals to outsidespecialists are required, Kreutzer says,Provital physicians and staff spend the timeneeded to advocate for their clients in orderto help expedite needed consultations.For this access to Provital’s team of

specialists (including educational seminars,workshops, bootcamps and more), its clientsdo pay an annual fee. Adult fees are $3,900in the first year and $3,060 a year thereafter,while children are free. There are also dis-counted rates for snowbirds and students.“One of the biggest misconceptions

about our services is that all fees representout-of-pocket expenses,” Kreutzer says.“The reality is that with even a traditionalbenefit plan or health-spending account,our clients can typically recoup a significantportion of their annual fees, sometimes

even the full amount, as long as they accessthe services covered by their plan.”“We’d like to dispel the myths about who

actually uses health-care services like us,”Kreutzer says.“It’s not just an option forthe wealthy. It’s simply for those who wantto be proactive with their own health andwant to ensure they get the thorough andcollaborative health care they feel theydeserve. Our clients range from youngfamilies to single professionals to retirees tocompanies — and everyone in between.”“I think the most important thing to know

about our team here at Provital is that weare all here based on our desire to practicebetter collaborative medicine and to deliverthe preventative and proactive health careour clients and their families deserve.”Provital’s leadership team has also just

expanded with the recent announcementof their new COO, Gary Iley, a veteran ofthe health-care sector in Alberta. “As partof our ongoing commitment to growthand client care, we are pleased to take thisopportunity to announce our new COO,Gary Iley. Under his leadership we arelooking forward to building and expand-ing Provital to further meet the long-termneeds of our clients.”

Provital – thorough and collaborative health care


As part of our ongoingcommitment to growthand client care, we arepleased to take this

opportunity toannounce our newCOO, Gary Iley.

Under his leadership weare looking forward tobuilding and expandingProvital to further meetthe long-term needs

of our clients.

Provital Physician & Co-OwnerDr. Donovan Kreutzer

Name: Provital Health and Wellness

Location:Suite 204, 2031 33rd Ave. S.W.Calgary, AB, T2T 1Z5

Contact info:Phone: 403-860-0838Fax: 403-685-4525E-mail: [email protected]: www.provital.ca

Services: Providers of thoroughand collaborative health care servicesto individuals, families and corpo-rate clients. Provital provides timely,preventative & proactive health care,with the services of family physicians,naturopathic doctor, chiropractor,nurses, dietitian, exercise kinesiolo-gists, psychologists, massage thera-pists, pedorthist and pharmacist onsite — plus numerous allied specialistpartners.

(L-R) Dr. Mariette VanWyk, COO Gary Iley, Dr. Donovan Kreutzer and Dr. Sarit Sengar.

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Waiting costs stress need for

health-care system overhaul

COVERSTORY

By BRIAN BURTON

Our imperfect health-care system now costs Canadians $200 billion per year to maintain — but that

doesn’t count the costs imposed on society and individuals by treatment delays.

The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based conservative think tank, has for many years decried wait times for medical treatment and urged reforms to Canada’s medicare system. It says queues for treatment amount to rationing of health care and it backs its position with yearly statistical reports on increasing average wait times for procedures (Waiting Your Turn) and separate estimates of the hidden costs these waits impose.

In its latest report, The Private Cost of Public Queues/June 2012, the Fraser Insti-tute calculates that work-related costs of de-lays in receiving treatment amount to $1.08 billion per year. And it says the off-hours value of patients’ reduced capacities adds another $2.21 billion to the tab, for a total annual cost of some $3.29 billion.

The report does not deduct from its esti-mate of losses to account for inevitable wait times in any alternative system. But report author and Fraser senior fellow Nadeem Es-mail says it’s important to measure the entire cost of waiting for treatment.

“We calculated the wait time in its entirety,” Esmail confirms. “Waiting for health care im-poses important physical and emotional im-pacts on individuals and we have to recognize that burden.”

If supporters of the Canadian system are tempted to call this an overestimate, it’s also true that Esmail only counts the average 9.5 weeks patients wait for treatment after seeing a specialist. He attaches no value to the additional 9.5 weeks of average waiting time between first seeing a family doctor and eventual access to a specialist.

This, he says, is because data is less reliable from general practitioner (GP) to specialist than from specialist to treatment. Accord-ingly, he attaches no value to the first waiting

period, even though this could easily more than double his cost estimate.

“This is a very conservative estimate,” he says. “It’s really only the tip of the iceberg.

“It’s a measure of the diminished ability to participate fully in the (patients’ own) lives, both at work and at home,” Esmail says. No value is attached to the lost time of family members sup-porting patients while they wait for treatment.

By comparison, a 2008 study by the Cana-dian Medical Association estimates the value of time lost waiting for just four procedures — joint replacement, cataract surgery, coro-nary bypass and MRI — was $14.8 billion, not including $4.4 billion in lost government tax revenues. The CMA said those numbers only included wait times in excess of medically rec-ommended maximums and only for the period from specialist appointment to treatment.

“They’re different ways of looking at a sys-tem that is either unwilling or unable to provide timely health care,” Esmail says. Either way, he says, it’s another indicator that the Canadian health-care system needs an overhaul.

Meanwhile, 2011 saw annual federal and provincial spending on health care across Canada surpass $200 billion for the first time, reaching $200.5 billion, according to the Cana-dian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

CIHI says health-care spending doubled between 1998 and 2008 before slowing its rate of growth thereafter and that spending per person in Canada is now $5,800 per year.

The Fraser Institute says Canadian fed-eral spending on medical services has out-stripped inflation and population growth by $97.6 billion in the past 13 years. That’s an average of $7.5 billion per year beyond covering the effects of inflation and popula-tion. But rapid increases in spending have made little difference in improving service delivery, the think tank says. Since 1997/98, average Canada-wide wait times for non-emergency medical procedures have in-creased by more than 50 per cent, to stand at 19 weeks. The 19 weeks was evenly split between GP-to-specialist and specialist-to-treatment queues.

federal spending on health

care in past 13 years

cost to Canadians to maintain the health-care system each year

yearly work-related and off-hours

value of delays in receiving treatment

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Placing a value on Canadians’ time spent waiting for medical treatment is bound to be a judgment call.

Here’s how the Fraser Institute does it:The Private Cost of Public

Queues/2012 report says all Canadian patients waited a total of 11.8 million weeks for non-emergency procedures in 2011. The report says various specialist groups estimated between 14 and 88 per cent of their patients experienced “signifi-cant difficulty in carrying on their work or daily duties.” To be on the safe side, the Fraser report uses a Statistics Canada figure of 11 per cent as a predictor of sub-stantial incapacity.

Report author Nadeem Esmail says this 11 per cent figure should be used as a fair minimum measure of total impairment because, although some in that group are able to maintain some level of daily activity, many patients outside the 11 per cent face lesser levels of impairment that should also be factored in.

The report therefore takes 11 per cent of the 11.8 million weeks of waiting time, or 1.3 million weeks. It then multiplies by an average 36-hour work week and then by an average wage of $22.99 per hour. (Note: report authors used provincial and territo-rial figures for weeks on waiting lists and

average wages — and then added provin-cial totals together for a national total.)

This calculation shows lost working time for all Canadians in specialist-to-treatment queues to be worth at least $1.076 billion in 2011. It attaches no value to the time from general practi-tioner to specialist, because Esmail says those numbers are less precisely gathered by provinces.

The Private Cost report values off-work hours at the same $22.99, based on classic economic theory, which says this is the av-erage amount a person would have to be

paid to forgo an hour’s leisure. Whether time watching Golf Channel, mowing the lawn or reading People magazine should be valued as highly as time at work may be open to debate. But the report con-cludes that, counting evenings and week-ends and excluding eight hours a night for sleep, impairment of personal time was worth another $2.21 billion.

In total, it says that the lost value attrib-utable to specialist-to-treatment queues is at least $3.29 billion Canada-wide. But it focuses on the estimated $1.08 billion it says is lost from job-related productivity.

Critics of the Canadian health-care sys-tem say costs are too high and wait times for treatment are too long. Worse, they say, costs are rising rapidly while wait times get longer. And they have the numbers to prove it.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) says health-care spending doubled between 1998 and 2008, and in 2011 total costs reached $200.5 billion or $5,800 per person, per year. In 2010, health-care costs surpassed 11 per cent of gross domestic product. And the Fraser Institute says wait times for treatment have increased 50 per cent since 1997/98.

By themselves, Canadian numbers all look pretty bleak — until you look at the strug-gles other countries are facing in the effort to pay for ever more complex and advanced medical procedures and facilities, as well as growing lists of expensive new drugs.

The Organization for Economic Co-op-eration and Development (OECD) recently

found the per capita cost of United States’ free-enterprise health-care system exceeded most socialized, universal health-care sys-tems in Europe, reaching $8,233 per person (U.S. purchasing power parity) in 2010. The American figure was more than twice as much as in France ($3,974), Sweden ($3,758) and the United Kingdom ($3,433).

Using the OECD method, based on pur-chasing power parity, Canada’s per capita cost was $4,445 US. (Note: purchasing power parity is not a currency conversion but a mea-sure of purchasing power of dollars spent.)

The rate of increase in Canadian health-care costs was 4.6 per cent per year from 2000 to 2009, compared with an OECD av-erage of 4.7 per cent per year over the same period and 4.3 per cent in the United States.

Canada’s health-care spending in 2010 was 11.4 per cent of national gross do-mestic product (GDP), compared with an OECD average of 9.5 per cent. In Europe, only Germany and France spent a greater

portion of GDP than Canada, both reach-ing 11.6 per cent. But the U.S. spent a chart-topping 17.6 per cent of GDP on medical expenses in 2010. And the U.S. hasn’t been below 15 per cent since 2001.

Critics would say Canadian numbers would be far less competitive if our system was properly funded and they point to Canada’s 10th place showing among 11 developed countries in relation to hospital beds per capita, as well as our lengthy treat-ment queues.

Meanwhile, average Canadian life expectancy is 80.8 years, compared with an OECD average of 79.25 years and a U.S. average of 78.7 years. And while cancellations of employer-funded health-care killed medical coverage for 14,000 to 15,000 Americans per day who became unemployed at the height of the recent global recession, the un-employed do not lose health-care cover-age in Canada.

Health care queues and cost increasing

Experts attach value to lost productivity

Also released in June, a report by the Wait Times Alliance (WTA), a group composed primar-ily of doctors’ professional associations, throws a spotlight on the wait times patients endure before seeing a specialist. The WTA says most of the attention on improving wait times has been di-rected at the wait between the specialist visit and the start of treatment. In 2004, the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) stated that: “Wait times should be defined from when pa-tients experience a problem and attempt to seek care through being seen by family physicians, through specialist consultation and specialty in-terventions, until definitive care is carried out.”

This approach considers the patient’s whole experience, not merely a portion of it.

The WTA says that part of the front-end delay is caused by a lack of family doctors that has left some four million Canadians dependent on walk-in clinics and emergency rooms for primary care.

The report also notes there is very little reli-able information on speed of access to spe-cialists, once a referral is made by a general practitioner.

But a WTA survey of family doctors in 2011 found patients waited longest to see specialists in orthopedics; ear, nose and throat; gastro-enterology; psychiatry and neurology. And a survey of gastroenterologists found total wait times (GP to treatment) of 126 days for patients with severe inflammatory bowel dis-order, a condition that causes pain and bloody diarrhea and typically renders patients unable to work. Average total wait times for all gastro-enterological treatments was 161 days and for screening colonoscopy (colon cancer preven-tion) the wait was 279 days.

The WTA says “the most important action to improve access” is improving alternative levels of care for long-term care patients who are taking up acute-care hospital beds. It says dementia is the key diagnosis causing the back-log, accounting for a third of the problem. The WTA urges alternative care approaches to free up acute-care beds.

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Waiting for health care imposes important physical and emotional impacts on individuals, and we have to recognize that burden.

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OP8

EXECUTIVE HEALTH SPENDING

By BRIAN BURTON

Healthy business executives may be fugitives from the law of averages, Canadian critical illness statistics

suggest.Some 2,800 Canadians per week are di-

agnosed with cancer and there are about 45,000 strokes per year in this country. Heart disease is projected to affect half of men and a third of women. In total, nearly one-third of Canadians suffer critical illnesses some-time in their working lives.

For human resources managers, applying these numbers to corporate executives can be chilling, especially when they’re combined with executive replacement costs. Those costs top out around four times annual pay for chief executive officers, according to a study by the Brighton Group of Bellevue, Wash.

Keeping the high-priced talent healthy is a better way to go, even if you only count the dollars and cents, the operators of Calgary’s private medical clinics say. Each of the private clinics offers a corporate or executive health plan for between $3,000 to $3,600 per person each year, with first-year costs about $1,000 higher to include a comprehensive baseline health assess-ment and personal health plan.

“With the cost of turnover (replacement), you want to make sure your executives are healthy and able to perform their duties,” says Laura Hansen Somers, president of the Human Resources Association of Calgary.

Risk reduction is the big financial motiva-tor for a large number of Calgary companies that offer executive health plans. But Hansen Somers says attracting top talent is also an important factor for companies purchasing

executive health plans. While some foreign-based companies send

their Calgary executive teams to the United States for annual health assessments, she says it’s far more common for companies in Calgary to use local providers of private medical services.

John Kemp is president and CEO of First Medics International, a Calgary-based sup-plier of paramedical and nursing services to remote oilfield and mining operations. He says his health is vital to the operations of his busi-ness and he wanted to protect himself and his company against any sudden surprises.

“What I really wanted was a baseline as-sessment,” Kemp says.

He became a client with the Calgary office of Vancouver-based Copeman Healthcare, and says the initial health assessment was “an amazing session” that took about three hours with a physician and other health professionals, including a nurse, dietician and kinesiologist. In addition to the standard tests, he added an Al-zheimer’s test for an extra fee, just to be sure.

He says it’s a detailed appraisal, in which most tests were done on site at Copeman’s of-fice. He says the same thing wouldn’t be practi-cal or even possible in a family doctor’s office.

“You’d have to convince the GP it was nec-essary” — and it would have to be booked through various diagnostic facilities with long wait times.

“If there’s something wrong, they’ll spot it and take appropriate action,” Kemp says of the Copeman plan. “The real benefit is knowing the president is in sound health.”

He says many of his client companies have executive health plans to prevent illnesses to senior people and avoid costs of replace-ment, lost knowledge and lost business op-

portunities that occur when the top decision maker is out of commission.

Gary Iley, chief operating officer with Cal-gary-based Provital Health and Wellness, says his company offers a corporate health plan for any group of employees. The plan, Iley says, includes a comprehensive assessment geared to identifying people at risk — due to lifestyle, heredity or other issues — and taking action before they develop serious health problems.

“That’s more likely to have a better out-come than treating disease. And people are more likely to change lifestyles if they know they’re at risk,” he says.

Companies are attracted to corporate health plans, such as those offered by Provital, because of the costs of replacing employees and because healthy people tolerate stress bet-ter than those who are unhealthy. In addition, health plans, often including family coverage, are an attractive perk that helps companies retain valued people longer.

“At the executive level, everybody’s vying for the same talent pool” and an enriched health plan can be a competitive advantage. But, whether companies or individuals pay for the plan, Provital makes a concerted ef-fort to help people take personal ownership

of their health, says Illey.The website for Calgary-based Preventous

Collaborative Health offers extensive informa-tion on its executive health plan. But Dr. Rhan Bissoondath says executive health is something of an outdated notion and a “misnomer.”

“Everybody needs the same assessment,” Bis-soondath says. He adds the website maintains the executive health page as a way to reach those searching for services using that term. “We try to attract and educate those people.

“I think many companies are missing the mark on executive health care.” He says many large Calgary companies send their top people to the United States once a year for exhaustive exams not available in the Ca-nadian public health-care system. But when those people come back to Calgary there’s no follow-up and they tend to fall back into bad habits that continue to erode their health.

“Next year the results are a little worse,” he says. “How can your health be a once-a-year thing? You spend more time looking after your lawn.”

He adds companies tend to shop for these once-a-year executive check-ups by asking how many tests will be done and at what cost.

“We only do stress tests for those who need them,” he says. “We’re not trying to impress you by saying everybody gets a stress test.”

Instead of extravagant annual testing with little or no face-to-face follow-up, he says Pre-ventous offers a thorough assessment, a per-sonalized health-care plan and constant access to a team of medical professionals who help clients maintain and improve their health.

“You have a team of people managing your money — why not your health? It’s your only real resource,” Bissoondath says.

Keeping high-priced talent healthy

How can your health be a once-a-year thing? You spend more time looking after your lawn.

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OP8

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� One-on-one pa�ent educa�on and care provided by Cer�fied Orthopedic Nurses.

Planetree Pa�ent-Centered Care in a Healing Environment� Enjoy a pre-surgery massage, pet therapy, live music and the

aroma of fresh-baked cookies in surroundings that are warm,quiet and comfortable.

� Rated in the top 10% of hospitals in the US for pa�entswillingness to recommend the hospital to friends and family; andhow they rate the hospital overall. (HCAHPS 2012)

Copyright © 2012 North Valley Hospital

10


By COLLEEN BIONDI

Heather Rogan, 33, is at the top of her game. She is a professional engineer and manager of the Long

Lake Development Group, an oilsands divi-sion at Nexen. She has a boyfriend, with whom she plans to travel to Dubai and Mo-rocco, and three beloved “fur babies” — two cats and a dog. She has friends, is active, happy and healthy.

What a difference a decade makes.When Rogan was in her 20s, she had con-

stant colds. By Friday night, when friends were ready to party, she was exhausted and in bed. She consulted a variety of doctors and specialists who could not determine what was wrong; most dismissed her symptoms as residual effects from a bout of mononucleosis she had in university.

Then she met Dr. Donovan Kreutzer, gen-eral practitioner, at a medical clinic in Bowness.

“He said my symptoms were not normal and he would get to the bottom of it,” says Rogan. “He was the first doctor who took that approach.”

Sure enough, she had a form of anemia which required a weekly regime of intrave-nous injections. But she was allergic to the normal iron serum, so Kreutzer found a mix that worked for her. It was time-consuming to attend the clinic for her shots; with a back-log of sick patients in an always-crowded waiting room, it could take four hours for her to get her minute-long treatment. But she continued to go there — for Kreutzer.

Then he explained he was leaving the clinic to set up Provital Health & Wellness Centre. “I had never had a doctor that con-scientious or committed to patient care,” explains Rogan. “There was no way I wasn’t going to follow him.”

Today, attending the clinic in Marda Loop is a pleasant and quick experience. “I can leave my office, get to Provital, chat with staff, get my shot and be back at my desk in 25 minutes.”

“Provital takes a preventive, holistic ap-proach to medicine,” explains Rogan. “They look at you as a total person.”

The team is diverse with massage therapy, psychology, kinesiology, chiropractic, phar-

macy, nutrition and dietitian services avail-able. There is ready access to specialists, such as gynecologists, and a blood lab onsite, add-ing to the one-stop shopping concept.

The staff practise due diligence, calling if it has not seen you for your annual or if your recommended blood work has not been completed.

Plus, if your fever spikes at 11 p.m., you can talk to the on-call doctor. If you need an immediate prescription, it will be submitted – STAT. If the situation is not emergent, the doctor will advise you and will follow-up by phone or e-mail the next day.

Because Rogan travels for work, she has even called the clinic for a consult from over-seas destinations if she was not feeling well. Her question: Do I need to go to a local medi-centre or can this wait until I am back home?

“You don’t want to take chances with your health,” she notes.

Rogan carries tension in her neck so she sees the massage therapist at Provital regu-larly (she is allowed 12 sessions per year in her plan). She has met all of the team members as part of a comprehensive intake

process, but sees mostly Kreutzer. For this service she pays $3,050 per year out of her own pocket.

“I am privileged to have a profession that allows me to pay that. It would be great if everyone could afford it,” she adds. Everyone deserves this level of care — professional, efficient and respectful, but many have ac-cepted a lower level of service.

“You don’t have to,” says Rogan. “At Provi-tal, you never feel you are anything but their priority. These people are passionate about health care.”

PROFILE

I had never had a doctor that conscien-tious or committed to patient care. There was no way I wasn’t going to follow him.

‘They look at you as a total person’Impressed with her doctor’s commitment to patient care, Heather Rogan continued to see him after he set up a private clinic, Provital Health & Wellness.

— Wil Andruschak photo

11


CANADA DIAGNOSTIC CENTRESis a leader in both public and privatemedical diagnostic imaging services.Since 1993, Canada Diagnostic Centres

(CDC) has been providing ExceptionalPatient Care in the medical imaging field.Formerly known as Western CanadaMRI Centres, CDC opened its doors inCalgary becoming the first non-hospitalprivate MRI facility in Western Canada.In the following 15 years, Western

Canada MRI Centres expanded into to sixlocations across Alberta including Calgary,Edmonton and Okotoks as well as a net-work of affiliate DI centres in Vancouver,Toronto, Mississauga and Hull adoptingthe new name Canada Diagnostic Centres.As a multi-modality service provider,

CDC is committed to delivering Exception-al Patient Care to the public through 2-D,3-D and 4-D real-time ultrasound, mam-mography, pain management, bone densi-tometry, fluoroscopy, and X-ray services andwell as the private sector with MRI and CTservices. Private MRI and CT scans offeredinclude a wide array of preventative healthscans including full body, joint, lung andheart scans and virtual colonoscopies.

In the past 10 years, CDC has seen nearlya million patients come through its doors.With nine dedicated radiologists and

more than 100 highly trained and skilledmedical technologists, CDC is able toprovide patients and health care profes-sionals with advanced diagnostic imag-ing of the body’s most important organsand systems. The state of the art clinicfacilities and imaging equipment, patientcare standards and physician reportingset CDC apart from other DI serviceproviders.CDC’s team of radiologists is headed

by the Medical Director Dr. BenjaminWong, BSc. MD, FRCPC, one of Canada’sleading MRI specialists with fellowship ac-creditation in musculoskeletal, cardiac andgeneral MRI including neurological andbodyMRI. As former head of MRI at theOttawa Civic Hospital, assistant professorof radiology and head of adult cardiac andbodyMRI at the University of AlbertaHospital, Dr. Wong brings his years of expe-rience across all modalities to CDC and toits patients.CDC’s ownership group, medical and

administrative staff are committed to the

patients every step of their experience.David Wetter, director of Business De-velopment with CDC, describes CDC’smethodology.“From the first point of contact with one

of our dedicated booking agents throughcheck in and thorough examinations andservices at our clinics to the highly accurateand timely reporting of the members of ourtalented radiology team, everybody at CDCstrives to provide every patient who comesthrough our doors with professional, courte-ous and expedient service. Our companymandate is really very simple; ExceptionalPatient Care is paramount to every aspectof a patient’s CDC experience. I am proudto be a member of a team of talented indi-viduals who ensure that CDC is a companythat delivers on our promises.”From its beginnings as a private-only

MRI centre to today’s multi-modalityimaging service provider committed topatients, physicians and the communityin Alberta, Canada Diagnostic Centreswill continue to uphold its ExceptionalPatient Care standards and leading edgereputation while working towards ahealthier future.

CDC: Providing ‘Exceptional Patient Care’


Our company mandate isreally very simple;

Exceptional Patient Careis paramount to everyaspect of a patient’s

CDC experience. I amproud to be a member ofa team of talented indi-viduals who ensure thatCDC is a company thatdelivers on our promises.

Medical Director Dr. Benjamin Wong

Name:Canada Diagnostic Centres

Locations: Five Calgary & Okotoks;one Edmonton

CDC Chinook1-6020 1A St. S.W.Calgary, AB T2H 0G3

Contact info: [email protected]: 403-212-58551-877-420-4CDC (4232)E-mail: [email protected]

Web: CanadaDiagnostics.ca

Services: Diagnostic medical imaging,magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computedtomography scan (CT Scan), preventativehealth scans, heart scan, lung scan, virtual colo-noscopy, 2-D ultrasound, 4-D ultrasound, bonemineral densitometry (bone density), gastro-intestinal studies (GI studies), mammography,pain management injections, pain manage-ment therapy, fluoroscopy, X-ray.

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By JACqUELINE LOUIE

For those who might find the cost of private medicine a challenge, there are a variety of options to help people find

the money to pay for private medical care.When you look at it carefully, it’s not so

difficult to find the money, according to the people who run private health-care clinics in Canada and the U.S.

“Even to enroll in our most expensive pro-gram, the Life Plus Program, you can do that for the cost of two lattes a day,” says Chris Nedelmann, CEO of Copeman Healthcare, which offers medically supervised programs of therapeutic lifestyle change, with a focus on helping people achieve greater longevity and quality of life through physical and psy-chological wellness.

“The reality is we serve people of all socio-economic backgrounds. What they have in common, is they all want to be healthy and happy. If health is important, people will find the money somehow.”

Having said that, Nedelmann adds, Cope-man provides a wide variety of service offer-ings.

“Not every client at Copeman spends $3,000 a year,” he says.

Clients can come in and have an annual medical for a lower amount, and they can see various clinicians on an hourly rate basis.

“There are lots of different options,” says

Nedelmann, who encourages people to ex-plore what their needs are.

“Our goal as an organization, is to serve the greater population, to really effect change along the lines of prevention. And as we continue to evolve, we will have more and more services that will be available at lower price points.”

Copeman’s Life Plus program has an annual fee of approximately $3,000, and Copeman offers payment plans for those who prefer to pay monthly.

“Many people have a third-party benefits plan through their employers, and often a good part of, if not the entire part, of our fees can be covered by those benefit plans.”

Many people who come through Cope-man’s doors don’t end up spending a full $3,000 a year because they are only interested in certain aspects of what Copeman has to offer, such as personal training, a variety of counselling, or the facility’s brain health pro-gram.

For younger clients, “what is often ideal is to simply have a comprehensive annual as-sessment, where there is a big fitness compo-nent and a big nutrition component.”

Heading south to the U.S. for premium health care is another option for Canadians. They will often choose a U.S. facility for sur-gery or other treatment because they want to be taken care of faster than the typical wait time they may be facing in Canada, says Ted Hirsch, senior executive director at Kalispell

Regional Healthcare, a hospital located in northwestern Montana’s Flathead Valley.

If the client is able to pay up-front for a medical procedure, Kalispell Regional Healthcare can offer package pricing for a decreased amount. For those who are not able to pay cash, the facility will work with them to help them manage the financing.

For instance, for the many Canadians with additional health insurance through their employer, or who have taken out insurance with Alberta Blue Cross or another plan, Ka-lispell Regional Healthcare can contact in-surance companies to check whether patients require prior authorization for procedures.

Mary Strauss, is the nurse in charge of Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s international medical services division, and Wellness Com-pass, a program offering health assessment and prevention. Strauss will supply patients with the documents they require to obtain reimbursement for a medical procedure.

Or, if clients need to borrow to pay for a medical procedure, she can provide a letter for them to give to their bank, backing up their medical need.

For all clients, Strauss will gather the documentation they need in order to obtain reimbursement from Alberta Health, which will reimburse a portion of costs. Alberta Health’s website explains what will and will not be covered.

Kalispell Regional Healthcare seeks to be

as clear and up-front as possible so that clients understand how the financing aspect works.

“We put it into one easy-to-understand price. Unless there are other medical condi-tions that come up when someone gets here, our price is what it is,” Hirsch says.

In Whitefish, Mont., an hour south of the border, North Valley Hospital offers pa-tients a number of options when paying for medical services, including cash, credit card, cheque and debit card.

“For emergency care or elective surger-ies we are happy to take PIN debit cards,” says Catherine Todd, North Valley Hos-pital’s director of marketing and medical concierge program, noting the hospital has a new system that works with Canadian Interac PIN debit cards under a Canada-certified payment program processor.

North Valley Hospital and its outreach clinics will bill all Canadian travel insur-ance providers directly.

Premium health care for the cost of two lattes a day

As we continue to evolve, we will have more services that will be available at lower price points.

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PAYMENTOPTIONS

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14


By JACqUELINE LOUIE

Mind, body and spirit — increas-ingly, private health-care facilities are treating the whole person, not

just the illness.Technology is a major focus at North Val-

ley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. Equally important is its focus on whole health.

“What we practise is really focusing on the person as a whole, healing the mind, body and spirit,” explains Catherine Todd, North Valley Hospital director of marketing and medical concierge program. “If we can make them very comfortable and treat them as a person, they have a better experience, and the expectation is they will heal faster.”

For example, North Valley Hospital com-bines the latest in high technology with such elements as music therapy, pet visitations, serving delicious food made using local fresh ingredients, and therapeutic massage before surgery. “It helps them relax, plus it feels good at the same time,” says Todd.

North Valley Hospital is aligned with Plan-etree, a non-profit organization that helps hospitals become more patient-centred. And the hospital itself has been designed to be a healing environment.

“It’s very warm, with lots of natural colours and lots of natural light. It really looks more

like an upscale hotel than a hospital. It’s helping people be comfortable and feel they are wel-come and important as a whole person — and not just somebody’s appendix coming out.”

Treating the whole person is also the focus at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, which of-fers a full range of health-care services, with close to 200 physicians on staff and 2,400 employees throughout 100 departments.

Dr. Brad Roy, Kalispell Regional Healthcare lead for all research programs, oversees the Summit Medical Fitness, a 115,000-square-foot medical fitness centre that is fully integrat-ed with Kalispell Regional Healthcare preven-tion, rehabilitative and medical programs.

As part of clients’ journey to wellness, Kalispell Regional Healthcare uses personal trainers, wellness coaches, physicians, nurses and clinical exercise physiologists, in order to help clients create their own wellness vision, and for those with chronic health conditions, to make lasting changes.

“The real answer is putting emphasis on prevention and lifestyle changes,” Roy says.

“The two biggest pieces are nutrition and exercise,” he adds. “It’s not about putting people on a diet — it’s helping them under-stand what appropriate nutrition is, and mak-ing changes gradually.”

A second key component to wellness is physical activity.

“Most of us sit way too much. We push the whole concept of moving throughout the day.”

Easy-to-do exercise strategies can include standing up to take a phone call, or making time for a five-minute walking break.

As part of Kalispell Regional Healthcare, the Montana Centre for Wellness combines the treatment of chronic and acute pain with traditional medical treatments, including sur-gical interventions and medication, counsel-ing, physical therapy, chiropractic care, mas-sage, acupuncture, nutrition and exercise.

Another of its programs focused on whole health, is the Wellness Compass program, which evaluates patients’ health with input from a variety of health care professionals us-ing a holistic lifestyle approach.

The program includes a health assessment tailored to each patient’s specific needs, with a comprehensive evaluation featuring advanced laboratory testing, a physical examination and physician consultation, cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness evaluation, preventive screening tests, and lifestyle assessment and physical activity coaching — to create an in-dividualized personal health care and wellness road map to follow.

As Kalispell Regional Healthcare senior executive director Ted Hirsch puts it, “We are responding to requests from folks travelling here

and wanting to spend time in Kalispell. Our hos-pital is in a beautiful part of the world. North-west Montana has mountains, lakes, streams, snow skiing and Glacier National Park. And more and more people are coming to realize that we have a great health-care service.”

In Canada, too, private health-care facilities are taking a similar approach. At the Cope-man Healthcare Centre, for example, “it is about the interdisciplinary care team-based care approach we take to managing client issues,” says Brenda Poole, executive director for Copeman Healthcare’s Calgary site.

The Copeman Healthcare model is based around a wellness wheel that includes psy-chological, physical and brain health.

“Prevention happens across the continu-um, and it happens at every age and stage of life,” says Poole.

As part of its philosophy, Copeman takes an comprehensive and unhurried approach to co-ordinating health care. Physicians make up part of a multi-disciplinary clinical team that also includes family health nurses, dietitians, kinesi-ologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuro-psychologists, who specialize in brain health.

“One of the things we feel most proud of, is that we are able to personalize health care, have those face-to-face conversations with clients and really understand and work with them as a partner,” Poole says.

Treating ‘whole’ patient key to healing processNorth Valley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. is patient-centred, providing a healing environment that includes music therapy and pet visitations.

— Courtesy North Valley Hospital

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WHOLE HEALTH


WHEN YOU THINK of leading edge,customer service oriented health care, May-fair Diagnostics comes to mind.In 1999, Radiology Consultants Associated

openedMayfair Diagnostics, a private MRIand CT facility. Aware that many patients werepursuing private medical options in the UnitedStates, necessitating significant travel costs andinconvenience, Mayfair Diagnostics wanted tooffer a local choice to the Calgary community.Mayfair Diagnostics is wholly owned and

operated by Radiology Consultants Associ-ated, which has been providing the highestquality of diagnostic services in partnershipwith hospitals and community practitionerssince 1911.The radiologists at Mayfair Diagnostics

and Radiology Consultants Associated are ateam of experienced professionals and car-ing partners. They are the same radiologistsworking 24/7 in the Peter Lougheed andRockyview hospitals as well as at the SheldonChumir and South Urgent Care CalgaryHealth Centres.“This speaks to the breadth of experience,

expertise and uniformity in terms of patientcare for being able to access images from thehospitals and our clinics which is importantfor the outcome of the patients and better

report quality,” says Dr. Sarah Koles, chair ofRadiology Consultants Associated.“This also allows our radiologists to build

relationships with the physicians both in thecommunity and within the hospital environ-ment. None of our radiologists work exclu-sively in private or paid medicine, everyone isactively involved in the public system.”Radiology Consultants’ mission is to pro-

vide the highest quality of diagnostic servicesand is committed to providing unparalleledservice value through constant innovationand investments in state-of-the-art technol-ogy that help deliver the safest and mostefficient imaging results.Helping physicians and their patients from

start to finish — no step is overlooked. Thecompany strives to get patients in for theirexams quickly and have the reports back inthe physicians’ hands promptly.While timeliness is vital to patient care, Ra-

diology Consultants makes certain this is donewithout sacrificing the quality of its reports;consequently Radiology Consultants has imple-mented a peer review process throughout its clin-ic practice. This ensures the highest standards forimage quality and diagnostic accuracy.“Quality is obviously very important for any

patient and also for the referring doctor, but

we see a lot of pathology and a lot of differentcases on any given day and this is one area inmedicine we are more capable to assess eachother’s ability and give appropriate feedback.Getting this feedback from cases allows us totweak our reports and produce better qualityresults for the patients and doctors. It is an im-portant process and one of the many that wehave that is necessary to maintain a high qual-ity diagnostic imaging practice,” says Koles.Radiology Consultants is committed to

giving everyone time and dedication from themoment they step through the door.“Good customer service to the patients as

well as to the referring doctors is vital,” saysKoles. “Our practice is based on patients’important factors like ease of booking, andaccess, and, of course, their time. We try to becognitive of patient time, especially when weknow there is usually wait times in health care.“We properly adjust our practice for pa-

tient needs. We’ve had success with this andwe are committed to giving all our patientsthe best in customer service,” she adds.Technologists are all specialty trained and

offer patients the best attention, care andcompassion during every visit.Radiology Consultants is changing the

standards on what good health care means.

Quality diagnostic services, great customer service


Radiology Consultantsis committed to giving

everyone time anddedication from themoment they stepthrough the door.

Good customer serviceto the patients as wellas to the referringdoctors is vital.

Dr. Sarah Koles, chair of RadiologyConsultants Associated

Name: Radiology ConsultantsAssociated

Location: 6707 Elbow Dr. S.W.Calgary, AB T2V 0E3

Contact info: [email protected]: 403.777.3000E-mail: [email protected]: www.radiology.ca

Services: Diagnostic imag-ing — X-ray, mammography,breast biopsy, ultrasound, bonedensitometry, nuclear imaging,echocardiography, exercise stresstesting myocardial perfusion scans,fluoroscopy, pain and musculoskel-etal therapy, vascular centre, MRIand CT.

Dr. Sarah Koles, right, chair of Radiology Consultants Association and Lynn Kostenuk, CT technologist.

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‘You can’t put a price on health’

Alice Itterman says the care she has received at Copeman Healthcare Centre has helped her get her health back under control.


By JACqUELINE LOUIE

A year-and-a-half ago, Calgary resident Alice Itterman would be doubled over in pain from recurring

gallbladder attacks.She went to several doctors before opting

for private medicine at the Copeman Health-care Centre in Calgary, which offers medically supervised programs for therapeutic lifestyle change, focused on timely, convenient access to professional expertise.

Before turning to Copeman, Itterman, 71, had been going to walk-in clinics after her family doctor retired.

After she began experiencing a variety of health problems, she decided she needed to find another doctor. She saw several in Cal-gary and one in Strathmore, but “nobody could really find out what it was,” she recalls. “I just did not feel very good at all. I always had a problem with my stomach, and then my heart started to go.”

She looked online, and finally came across

Copeman, whose goal is to help people achieve greater longevity and quality of life through physical and psychological wellness. With the encouragement of her husband, she went in for a consultation.

Itterman had several appointments and “all the tests” before a Copeman physician was able to diagnose what was going on. Itter-man had had her gall bladder removed three decades earlier, which turned out to be part of the problem. She saw a registered dietitian at the centre, who helped her tailor her diet to maximize her health, by avoiding certain foods that aggravate her condition. As long as she watches what she eats, it’s manageable.

The physician also put Itterman on a dif-ferent heart medication, which helped as well. She had previously gone to emergency several times because of her heart and hasn’t been back since switching her medication.

Another issue was anxiety and the medication prescribed has “made a world of difference.”

Itterman is still going to the Copeman Centre, but less often now that her health is under control. “I go maybe once every two

months, more or less for a check-up, to keep on top of what they’ve done. Everything is going really well — I would say at least 90 per cent overall,” she says.

Itterman says going to a private clinic such as Copeman may be costly, “but you can’t put a price on health. If you can afford it, you have very personal service.”

For Itterman, who has lived in Calgary for 40 years, going to the Copeman Centre has been a whole new experience. “At the Copeman Cen-tre, I can get an appointment if I phone today. ”

Itterman, who raised a family, also worked outside the home for 20 years before retiring.

“I have a wonderful family of three — two boys and a girl, all grown up; and we have six grandchildren.”

One son lives in San Diego, their daughter and other son are in Vancouver — so travel is important.

“We want to see them as much as we can, but sometimes it’s very hard when you’re not feeling well,” Itterman says. “Now that I’m feel-ing better, we’ll be able to travel more again.”

PROFILE

Phoenix/SCoTTSDALE, ARIZONA ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

I was born with a severe and complex heartcondition, and wasn’t expected to live past my 16thbirthday. Then I went to Mayo Clinic. Thanks totheir pioneering bypass surgery, I’ve celebrated over50 birthdays since. My answer was Mayo Clinic.carol allanCalgary, Alberta

Like Carol, you have full access to Mayo Clinic’s world-class health care. As a not-for-profitorganization, we have been putting the needs of our patients first for more than 100 years.Our expert teams of specialists and premier medical facilities are available to you for diagnosisor treatment of a serious condition, a comprehensive wellness exam, or even a second opinion.In most cases, a physician referral is not needed. To make an appointment please visitmayoclinic.org/canada or call 1.888.441.2133. If you want to connect with others who’vebeen there, please visit connect.mayoclinic.org/

17


By JACqUELINE LOUIE

Giving Canadians more choice in their health-care options when they’re facing serious illness is the goal of two new

private health insurance products now out on the market.

This past April, Mayo Clinic and Assured Diagnosis Inc. (ADI) of Calgary launched two new health insurance options that are intended to provide more Canadians with access to Mayo Clinic’s expertise and care in the event of serious illness.

“We are working collaboratively with Cana-dian attending physicians, the patient and the Mayo Clinic to get an initial diagnosis or to confirm a diagnosis. We are thrilled to be able to help Canadians get that initial diagnosis in a timely manner,” says Jim Viccars, president of ADI, which has contracted with Mayo Clinic to bring the MyCare group benefit plan to Canada.

“Mayo Clinic has developed an expertise be-cause of its collaborative approach to medicine. It has developed systems that successfully allow

multiple physicians to make diagnoses on an im-mediate basis.”

Canadians have been travelling to Mayo Clinic for medical care since the early 1900s, Viccars adds. “What the Mayo Clinic has developed for patient care is truly phenomenal.”

The MyCare program is made up of two components: the Heath Benefit Option (HBO), available to all employees of an organization. The HBO provides access to medical expertise and diagnosis when there is a serious illness affecting an employee, their spouse or children, and will cover everything that Mayo Clinic would need to make a diagnosis, such as diagnostic scans and specialist assessments. MyCare HBO members will receive access to Mayo Clinic expertise, deliv-ered remotely via an electronic medical opinion consultation.

MyCare Advantage, the program’s second component, provides members with the option to upgrade to MyCare Advantage Insurance at group rates, for on-site care at Mayo Clinic loca-tions in Jacksonville, Fla.; Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.; and Rochester, Minn.

MyCare Health Benefit Option (HBO) and

MyCare Advantage Insurance are available to companies and associations as an addition to their benefit packages.

Although the MyCare program is new, it’s al-ready attracting interest. David Ross, president of Ross & Associates Consulting Ltd. in Edmonton, a third party administrator of employee benefit pro-grams and consultant, signed his company up for the MyCare program in July.

“I’m hoping to bring confidence to our employ-ees and clients that there is a backup to our sys-tem,” Ross says. “Our health-care system is really challenged. We are hearing more and more about people being stuck in wait times, when their situa-tion could be getting more and more critical.

“What the MyCare program does, is it offers us that sense of an alternative to ensure that we’re being properly cared for, to the best of the health-care system’s ability. The Advantage program takes it one step further by offering alternatives to our local health care system, so that if can’t be resolved properly under our provincial system, it can be resolved through the Mayo Clinic. I think this product suits every organization out there that has as its culture, care for its employees.”

Insurance program offers employees confidence

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By COLLEEN BIONDI

By year’s end, 70-year-old Murray Greenberg of Calgary will be in Italy.

He and his wife have travelled exten-sively over the years and when they started re-searching places where they might retire, Puglia (the “heel” of the “boot”) topped the list.

They’re restoring an old property there and look forward to an active life walking, cycling, exploring wine country and taking advantage of a lifestyle they’ve worked very hard to achieve.

A mere two years ago, this dream came close to going up in smoke. Greenberg started feeling pain in his hips. It was in the joints and “referred” pain radiated down both legs. The condition of the right hip, which showed better on X-ray, was worsened due to a floating bit of cartilage that was pinching the nerves.

“I was having excruciating, shattering pain,” he says. “It was horrible.”

He visited a surgeon in Calgary who said surgery for his “non-critical” condition would take place in approximately 17 months. He recommended exercise therapy and anti-in-flammatory medication, but the exercises hurt

too much and the drugs didn’t work. Greenberg’s mobility and stamina were

compromised. He couldn’t walk any distance; he couldn’t stand at a party.

“It is hard to explain how bad the pain was,” he adds. “It is like someone had a hand-ful of big, red-hot needles and was driving them into my leg.”

In 2010, Greenberg had undergone success-ful surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff at Bene-fis Health System in Great Falls, Mont.

He called them to discuss his hip issues. He sent along his medical files, they agreed he needed a double-hip replacement and offered him surgery on the right hip a week later.

Greenberg drove down with his wife, Gail, two days prior to surgery. The day after the operation, in November 2011, he was up walk-ing; he walked twice daily for five days before he was released.

When the hip collapses due to deteriora-tion there is length loss in the leg. The way the surgeon attached the replacement pieces recov-ered that two-centimetre loss so, post-surgery, Greenberg’s legs were matching in length.

Back in Calgary, Greenberg started hip- and

leg-strengthening exercises. He used forearm crutches to help with walking. He took care not to do three things: move his hip beyond 90 degrees, turn his toes in and cross his ankles. The rehabilitation was hard because the left hip remained painful.

That wouldn’t be an issue for long. By mid-June of this year, he was back in Great Falls to have his left hip replaced.

He had the same exceptional experience and the rehabilitation is going more smoothly as his new, right hip is healthier and stronger. ‘I am almost back to normal. I can’t tell you how happy I am about that.”

Each hip replacement cost $25,000 US. Additional costs (hotel, gas, meals) brought the total, for both procedures, to almost $70,000.

“I had a successful financial planning business and had the resources to pay,” he admits. He got a 10 per cent rebate back from Alberta Health Care. Patients can also claim these costs as tax deductions on their annual income tax returns.

“If you can find the right facility, with the right expertise, and you can afford it, don’t wait,” suggests Greenberg. “If you are really suffering, it is worth it. It is only money.”

‘If you are really suffering, it is worth it’

When Calgarian Murray Greenberg learned he would have to wait 17 months for hip replacement surgery, he opted for speedier treatment at Benefis Health System in Great Falls, Mont.


‘I really wanted to make changes’

Herman Van Reekum has lost 60 pounds with help from the experts at Preventous. — Wil Andruschak photo

By JACqUELINE LOUIE

Calgarian Herman Van Reekum turned to a private health-care clinic because he needed a family physi-

cian. He also wanted to lose some weight.A client at Preventous Collaborative

Health since October 2011, he’s been dili-gent about following the clinic’s advice, and is delighted with the results.

Van Reekum has been going to the private Calgary health centre for all of his medical needs after his regular family doctor closed his practice. He first heard about Preventous through an insurance company, which re-ferred him there to get some insurance tests done.

“I really liked the people there,” says Van Reekum, 54, a married father of two sons, ages 15 and 26, whose family has taken advantage of a variety of services at Preven-tous.

His younger son, who is a hockey player, turned to Preventous for treatment after be-ing injured twice last year. And his wife chose

the Preventous travel clinic for her travel shots before going on a trip to Africa.

“The access is certainly important for me. I’m pretty busy, and (with Preventous) I’m able to schedule appointments when I need to,” says Van Reekum, a business owner whose immigration relocation recruiting firm, VRV Global, specializes in interna-tional labour mobility issues. “There’s no waiting — you just get right in. They know who I am, which is huge for me.”

His doctor has been “fantastic” with excel-lent follow-up through phone calls or e-mails.

Van Reekum is especially pleased with his results from the Preventous weight-loss pro-gram. Since starting the program last October, Van Reekum, who is six-foot-two, dropped 60 pounds, going from 280 to 220 pounds.

Preventous, which focuses on helping cli-ents achieve better health through healthy living, helped him accomplish his goal through dietary changes and exercise. A nutritionist set up a weight-loss program for him, and created a system of accountability with regular check ins, weigh ins, and discus-

sions of what he needed to do next. During his initial assessment, Van Reekum

also spent about an hour with a Preventous fitness consultant who assessed his fitness level, and then created a program with rec-ommendations on what he could do to work off the weight, with a program of weight training, cardio and stretching.

Among other things, he spent a lot of time working out on an elliptical trainer, “pretty much every day for half an hour. I’ve seen a huge improvement in cardio for the last six months.

“For me, it has been the best part of the whole program. I knew I needed to do some-thing and that was definitely a big part of what sold me on going there.

“The Preventous environment really works for me, and the people I’ve been able to connect with. I’ve been able to take their advice, and I really wanted to make changes as a result of their advice. Every-thing I heard from them, especially from the nutritionist, doctor and fitness person, made sense. That’s been huge — the holis-tic part of it.”

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